Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CA 02393786 2002-06-07
WO 01/42689 PCT/FROO/03453
SUPPORT FOR STORING, TRANSPORTING AND USING DEVICES FOR
APPLYING A MASTIC SEALANT AND USES THEREOF
The present invention relates to a support for storing,
transporting and using devices for applying a mastic
sealant to a protruding element on a surface, and to
the uses of this support.
In the aeronautical industry, the sheet metal intended
to form the walls of fluid-tight structures, such as
the fuel tanks or the fuselage, is very widely
assembled by means of rigid linking elements, of the
rivet, bolt or similar type, which pass right through
the thickness of the metal sheets that they assemble.
Despite accomplished fitting efforts to reduce the
residual spaces likely to exist between the various
parts of these linking elements and between the latter
and the walls of the holes in which they are held,
there always persists a risk of fluid leakage thereat.
To eliminate this risk, a seal is formed by applying,
to that portion of the linking elements which protrudes
from the surface of the metal sheet intended to be in
contact with the fluid or fluids and to that portion of
the metal sheet adjacent to these elements, a
semiliquid or pasty mastic capable of forming, after
curing in the ambient air, a fluid-resistant and
impermeable barrier.
It is the usual practice to apply a mastic, for the
purpose of forming a seal at the linking elements, and
to that sheet metal portion lying around these linking
elements, manually using a brush. Thus, taking into
account the very large number of linking elenients used
in aeronautical construction, the formation of a seal
at these elements therefore consumes a great deal of
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time. It also consumes a large amount of mastic,
insofar as the workers responsible for making this seal
have a tendency, for security, to apply larger amounts
of mastic than those actually needed to obtain a
satisfactory seal. However, apart from the financial
overcost that this represents, any excess material
translates to an unnecessary weight burden, whereas the
aeronautical industry is constantly seeking to minimize
the weight of aircraft. Finally, such application using
a brush does not make it possible to ensure that the
mastic is deposited uniformly, especially from one
linking element to another, suitable for guaranteeing a
constant quality of the seal thus formed.
Consequently, it has been proposed, in British patent
application No. 2 163 817, to employ ready-to-use
devices which are in the form of a bell-shaped
receptacle prefilled with a predetermined amount of a
mastic, these devices being frozen, for storing them,
and then defrosted for using them. Thus, to apply a
mastic sealant by means of these devices, all that is
required is to allow them to defrost, by letting them
stand, for example, at room temperature for a few
minutes, so that the mastic recovers its properties,
and especially the consistency of a fresh mastic, and
then to apply said devices to the elements that it is
desired to coat with mastic.
To manufacture such devices and then fill them with a
predetermined amount of mastic often proves to be not
very practical and time-consuming, especially if it is
desired to produce them in high volume. To transport
and store these devices in loose form is also
relatively expensive, insofar as the volume occupied by
the devices is not optimized, and not easy to
implement, owing to the risk of the mastic escaping
from the devices should they be inadvertently defrozen.
Finally, when used, they are not simple to handle and
it may quite quickly prove to be prejudicial to the
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required profitability owing to the considerable number
of similar devices that it is necessary in general to
install on an airplane cabin.
The object of the invention is in particular to provide
a solution to these problems.
For this purpose, the invention relates to a support
for storing, transporting and using devices for
applying a mastic sealant to a protruding element on a
surface, this support being characterized in that it
comprises a plurality of these devices borne by a
substantially plane base, said devices being detachable
therefrom, and in that each device includes a capsule
which is intended to completely cover said element and
contains a predetermined amount of said mastic in the
frozen state.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the
invention, the devices for applying a mastic sealant
and the base which bears them form a one-piece
structure.
According to a preferred version of this embodiment,
the capsules of the devices for applying a mastic
sealant and the base are made of the same material and
are linked by bridges of this material which are
capable of being broken by pressing manually or by
using any suitable tool.
According to a preferred embodiment of the support
according to the invention, this support is obtained by
molding and is in the form of a sheet, from one surface
of which sheet the capsules of the devices protrude.
The sheet is designed so that each device can be
detached simply by pressing on the head of the capsules
of the devices.
11"
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- ~ - For this purpose, each capsule is linked to the sheet
via a weakened and separable region which surrounds it
and which is obtained by reducing the thickness of the
sheet around the capsule and by the presence of cuts
made in the reduced thickness so that the capsule is
linked to the sheet only by bridges of material which
are capable of being broken by pressing manually or by
using any suitable tool.
Advantageously, each weakened and separable region
which surrounds a capsule is itself surrounded by a
circular reinforcing rib which prevents premature
tearing of said weakened and separable regions during
demolding.
According to the invention, the capsules of the
suppport advantageously comprise a body of
substantially cylindrical or frustoconical shape, the
inner and outer faces of which may have, in cross
section, independently of each other, a circular or
polygonal shape, which body is closed by a head.
In general, the conformation of the inner face of the
body of the capsules is matched to the shape of the
protruding element that these capsules are intended to
cover. Consequently, the body of the capsules may
perfectly well have an inner face of cross section the
same shape as that of the protruding element, while
having an outer face of different cross section.
According to a first advantageous embodiment of the
invention, the body of the capsules are a cylinder or a
truncated cone, the inner and outer faces of which have
a circular cross section.
Advantageously, the head of the capsules is a spherical
cap.
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According to the invention, the mastic contained in the
capsules is, when it is in the frozen state, preferably
in the form of a nut which adheres to the bottom of the
capsules, said nut being approximately coaxial with the
latter. This is because such an arrangement has the
advantage of allowing the mastic, once the device has
been applied to the protruding element, to flow over
the entire outer surface of this element in a uniform
manner.
The support according to the invention is able to allow
any mastic sealant whatsoever to be applied.
Consequently, the mastic present in the capsules may be
chosen from the very many mastics which are offered for
sealing against fluids, whether these be liquids or
gases, it being understood that this choice will
generally depend on the type of fluids against which
the mastic must seal and, consequently, by the
properties of resistance to the effects of these fluids
that it must have.
Thus, for example, if the capsules of the support
according to the invention are intended to be used to
form a seal at the linking elements of a fuel tank or
the fuselage of an airplane, the mastic present in the
capsules is advantageously a polysulfide-based mastic,
such as those sold by Le Joint Franqais under the brand
names PR 10770, PR 1750, etc., or, as a variant, a
polythioether-based mastic of the PR 1828 type (also
from Le Joint Franqais) or one based on another
crosslinkable polymer.
According to the invention, the capsules and the base
of the support are made of a material based on one or
more elastomers, the latter advantageously being chosen
according to three criteria, namely:
- having, with respect to the mastic sealant,
compatibility suitable for obtaining satisfactory
adhesion between this mastic and the capsules;
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- exhibiting, with regard to the fluids against
which the seal is required, resistance properties
similar to those of the mastic so as to prevent the
capsules from degrading on contact with these fluids
and so that the products of this degradation do not
contaminate the latter, and/or possessing sufficient
resistance to the effects of electromagnetic phenomena
(lightning) by the choice of the material and the
design of the capsules; and
- being crosslinkable in a sufficiently short
time so that manufacture on an industrial scale of the
support according to the invention can be carried out
at a satisfactory rate. Within the context of the
present invention, a crosslinking time of less than or
equal to 10 minutes is generally cons:i.dered as
acceptable.
In practice, the first two criteria will usually be met
by using, for manufacturing the capsules, the same
elastomer or elastomers as those used in the
composition of the mastic. Thus, for example, if the
mastic sealant intended to be applied by means of the
support according to the invention is a mastic based on
a polysulfide, the capsules are advantageously made
from an elastomer composition also comprising a
polysulfide.
The use of such a support for devices for applying a
mastic sealant according to the invention has many
advantages and especially those of allowing:
- rapid manufacture of a large number of
identical sealing devices linked to a common support
but easily detachable therefrom for the purpose of
using them;
- ease of storing the devices, especially by
superposing several supports, and of using them, since
they are easier to grip than if they had been placed
loosely in a container, and several capsules linked to
the same support are available to the user; and
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- complete, uniform and reproducible coating, in
a few simple movements rapidly executed, with this
mastic, of elements protruding from a surface and the
portion of this surface which surrounds these elements.
The subject of the present invention is also the use of
a support for storing, transporting and using devices
for applying a mastic sealant, such as those defined
above, to form a fluid-tight seal at rigid linking
elements of the rivet, bolt or similar type.
This use is of most particular benefit for the
manufacture of fluid-tight structures such as fuel
tanks, whether in the aeronautical, naval, automobile
or other industry.
The subject of the present invention is also the use of
a support for storing, transporting and using devices
for applying a mastic sealant, such as those defined
above, for protecting the protruding elements of
structures from electromagnetic effects such as
lightning.
Apart from the preceding embodiments, the invention
also includes other embodiments which will emerge from
the rest of the following description, given by way of
illustration of this invention and with reference to
the appended drawings in which:
- figure 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional
view of a device for applying a mastic sealant;
- figure 2 is a schematic plan view of a support
for storing, transporting and using devices as in
figure 1;
- figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view on
the line II-II of the support in figure 2; and
- figure 4 is a partial schematic view on a
larger scale of figure 3.
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Referring firstly to figure 1, this shows schematically
a device 10 for applying a mastic sealant, designed to
form a seal at a linking element such as a rivet or a
bolt. In this figure, this device is shown as it would
be once it has been detached from a support according
to the invention and in the position in which it is
intended to be applied to the protruding portion of the
linking element. This position is the reverse of that
in which said device is preferably stored and
transported and in which above all it is defrosted for
the purpose of using it.
As may be seen in figure 1, the device 10 comprises a
capsule 11 which itself comprises a body 12 of
frustoconical shape of axis a, which is bounded by a
wall 13 and the inner 14 and outer 15 faces of which
have, in cross section, a circular shape.
The body 12 of the capsule 11 is closed, at its end
which has the smallest mean diameter, by a spherical
cap 16, having the same axis as the body and the inner
face of which forms, in its central portion, the
bottom 17 of the capsule.
At the opening of the body 12 of the capsule 11 - which
corresponds to the end of this body having the highest
mean diameter - its wall 13 is extended, over the
entire perimeter of this end, by a rim 18 of annular
shape which extends radially outward from said body 12
in a direction making an angle a of approximately 450
with the axis a.
As may be clearly seen in the figure 1, the rim 18
terminates, at its opposite end to that joined to the
wall 13 of the body of the capsule, and over the entire
perimeter of this end, in a bevel so that the free
edge 19 of this rim lies in a plane perpendicular to
the axis a.
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The thickness of the rim 18 is the same as the
thickness that the wall 13 of the body 12 of the
capsule 11 has at the opening of this body. However,
the thickness of this wall 13 gradually increases
toward the spherical cap 16, to be the maximum at the
central point of the latter, that is to say the point
through which the axis a passes.
Also as may be seen in figure 1, the capsule 11 is
partially filled with a mastic 20. This mastic is in
the form of a nut which adheres, when the mastic is in
the frozen state, to the bottom 17 of the capsule 11
and which occupies a volume approximately half of the
internal volume of the latter.
Referring now to figures 2 to 4, these illustrate
schematically a support 30 forming the subject of the
present invention which is especially designed to make
it easier to store, transport and use devices 10 for
applying a mastic sealant in accordance with that
described in relation to figure 1. In these figures,
the support 30 is shown as it is 'at the end of its
manufacture up to the point when it is used. Moreover,
in figures 3 and 4, the support 30 is shown in a
position which corresponds to the position of applying
the devices 10 to the protruding portions of linking
elements and which, here again, is the reverse of the
position in which the support 30 is itself stored,
transported and used.
As figure 2 shows, the support 30 is in the form of an
array comprising several devices 10 which are arranged
in rows and columns. In the embodiment shown in
figure 2, the devices 10 are sixteen in number and are
distributed in four rows and four columns each
comprising four devices 10.
The array is made as one piece by molding and comprises
a sheet 32, typically having a thickness of around
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0.5 mm, and the capsules 11 for the devices protrude
from a surface of this sheet.
The flexible sheet is designed so that each device 10
can be detached by simply pressing on the spherical
cap 16 of the capsules 11 of the devices 10. For this
purpose, each capsule 11 is linked to the sheet 32 via
a weakened and separable region 33 which surrounds the
capsule.
As may be seen in figure 4, this region 33 is obtained
by reducing the thickness of the sheet 32 around the
capsules 11 of the devices 10 and by the presence of
cuts in this thus reduced thickness, so that these
capsules are linked to the sheet 32 only via bridges of
material which may be easily broken simply by pressing
on the spherical cap 16 of said capsules.
As also shown in figure 4, each weakened and separable
region 33 which surrounds a capsule 11 is itself
surrounded by a circular reinforcing rib 34 which
prevents premature tearing of said weakened and
separable regions during demolding of the support.
As an example, the support and the capsules may be
produced by means of a process comprising the following
steps:
- the material intended to be used for producing
the support and the capsules is prepared;
- a mold is filled with said material, this mold
comprising a hollowed impression of matched shape in
order to be able to produce, in one go, the support and
the linked capsules in one piece with the support,
these being linked by means of thin bridges of material
forming weakened and separable regions;
- the mold is heated so that the crosslinking of
the elastomer material takes place inside the mold;
- the support and its capsules are demolded once
the material has cured;
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- the bottom of each capsule is filled with the
chosen amount of mastic; and
- the support and its capsules thus filled with
mastic are frozen in order to prevent the latter from
curing and to allow it to thus maintairl all the
physical characteristics of a fresh mastic.
As an example, the material (a masterbatch) used to
make the support and the capsules may be based on a
polysulfide rubber mixed with inert fillers, such as
carbon black, and with a crosslinkinq system,
preferably one based on sulfur and including, for
example, crosslinking promoters such as stearic acid
and zinc oxide, a sulfur donor accelerator, such as
tetramethylthiuram disulfide or dipentamethylthiuram
tetrasulfide, and a retarder.
The proportions of the various constituents of the
masterbatch are given by way of indication in parts by
weight:
- polysulfide rubber: 50 to 100;
- carbon black: 30 to 60;
- stearic acid: less than 10;
- zinc oxide: less than 10;
- accelerator: less than 10; and
- retarder: less than 10.
However, it should of course be understood that these
examples are given merely as an illustration of the
subject matter of the invention - they do not
constitute in any way a limitation thereof.
Thus, each weakened and separable region may be
surrounded by a circular reinforcing rib in order to
prevent the capsules from becoming detached during the
molding. The impression of the mold is therefore
tailored accordingly so as to form these ribs.
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Alternatively, the separable regions may be formed
outside the mold, after the support and the capsules
have been molded, for example by partial cutting around
the capsules using a punching die. It is then
unnecessary to provide a circular reinforcing rib.
